The evolution of the role of the trombone as a solo instrument in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries can be traced most effectively through four schools of playing, with the music of today's avant-garde being a logical historical culmination of these four schools. It will be demons t rated that the avant-garde's use of the solo trombone has merely continued the evolutionary process started in the early nineteenth century. The contribution of the early nineteenth-century virtuosi was the establishment of the idea that the trombone could compete on its own terms with other instruments as a solo instrument. In addition to expanding the technical capabilities, they also left a basic solo repertoire. With the death of the virtuosi the trombone as a solo instrument went into a decline. For the remainder of the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth century the Paris Conservatoire was influential. Standards of solo performance were brought to new heights by excellent study material and contest solos. The next important step came from the late nineteenth-century American band virtuosi. Their influence helped the public to accept the idea of the trombone as a solo instrument. The American jazz trombonists of the 1930's and 1940's also …

The minor choral works are those exclusive of the well-known choral works. Symphonic movements for chorus are also excluded. Conflicting and incomplete information from the composer himself and from secondary sources were principal research problems. The published letters, the memoirs, and a small number of secondary sources, containing little more than passing references, form the body of the research material beyond the scores themselves. The arrangement is by opus number, with unpublished works inserted chronologically by date of composition. A description of the circumstances surrounding each work' s composition precedes a study of the music within each chapter. The last chapter delineates stylistic characteristics of the minor choral works.

The purpose has been to prove that there are connections between the visual arts (including architecture) and music. In the development of the argument it is shown that common themes exist in the arts, such as style, form, balance, line, color, and texture. Examples of piano music are offered from the last 100 years that show, to a greater or lesser extent, the influence of art. In some cases this is simply a matter of titles, whereas in other instances, such as Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, the influence goes deeper. In the final chapter the proposition is presented that the composer himself sometimes acts as a painter, portraying concrete images directly in music. Examples are offered of piano pieces depicting people, animals, places, objects or activities.

The purpose of this paper is to discover the environmental characteristics of the "Mystic Chord" in the first four Sonatas for Piano by Alexander Scriabine. This paper explores the manner of approach, manner of resolution, harmonic function, position, melodic function, and rhythmic position of the "Mystic Chord".

This paper analyzes the music of the Liederkreis, Op. 39 to provide insight into the nature and style of the piece. Robert Farias Austin, Jr. explores the history of the German Lied and the life of the composer, Robert Alexander Schumann.

This paper explores the connection between the Commedia dell'arte and the opera buffa genre and asserts that performers should be aware of this connection. John Arden Hopkin explores the history of the Commedia dell'arte and the rise of opera buffa.

This paper discusses and analyzes Ludwig van Beethoven's "Eroica" Variations, Opus 35. Cynthia Hukill explores the significance of the "Eroica" as a ground-breaking expansion of the variation form.

Thesis provides a historical survey of unusual double-reed bass instruments. Carol E. North provides a historical overview before separating the instruments into those with a cylindrical bore and those with a conical bore and describing each in turn.